Chapter 26: Chapter 26
The next day, after a quick breakfast, they entered the third floor and teleported to an archaic castle full of skeleton soldiers.
‘’Death Knights,’’ Evelyn whispered, surprised.
‘’Seriously? There are necromancers now?’’ Ethan asked in disbelief.
‘’Of course, but they are very scarce because there are no skills available to the public,’’ she replied. ‘’Though, this doesn’t change the fact that many people have an affinity for death. Some families even keep special skills and hidden teams in secret.’’
‘’But if there is death, there should be all kinds of affinities and not just some elements, right?’’
Evelyn rolled her eyes. ‘’You’re surprised by that with your Void affinity? There are life, death, time, space, and many more. They tend to be more powerful, but as I said, the lack of skills is keeping them away from shining too much. There are also variants of the elements like ice, magma, metal, light, sound, etc,’’ she explained while looking around to see if there were any movements. ‘’With your Void talent, you’re likely also talented in space, time, and gravity, but finding those skills in a lower realm is just too difficult.’’
‘’I really need to find bigger libraries,’’ he muttered, shaking his head.
‘’Let’s start with the left-wing,’’ Evelyn said with shiny eyes. ‘’I’m the bane of those skeletons. There is so much essence waiting in this castle.’’
And like she said, they had no way to stop her. She entered their ranks like a storm, and bones scattered wherever she passed. For Ethan’s bad luck, his shadow spikes were pretty much useless, but he still used [Fabric Tear] with his knives to sever their heads.
The death knights were at tier-4, but they were still easy prey for the duo even though Beet and Paprika struggled to cope with them. Ethan acted as a support while Evelyn bulldozed an ivory path. After an hour, they were already inside the castle. The only thing Ethan found valuable were the paintings, but when he tried to store them, they just reappeared at their original spot.
‘’The most money grumbler dungeon ever,’’ he complained, moving toward the candlesticks half-heartedly. Although, he knew that the abundant exp was the real reward. Finding so many monsters at the same level and so close to each other was a blessing.
They cleaned out the castle in no more than six hours with a few scratches, and Ethan reached level 32. After a few hours of meditation, they went to the fourth floor.
This one was different from the other three because it was an open space, a forest. There was a trail going deeper into the forest, and they could see the creatures they would face, up above.
‘’Harpies,’’ Ethan said, looking up and narrowing his eyes. ‘’This could be very troublesome if we attract a big group.’’
‘’I could take three steps in the air, and you have [Blink],’’ Evelyn stated. ‘’We should be okay if we don’t let them surround us.’’
‘’Still, let’s try not to consume too much mana. I’ll try to lure a few of them before we make a swift ambush,’’ he suggested and turned to their little friends. ‘’Paprika, try to bind them and remove their flexibility in the air. Beet, you make sneak attacks where you have a certain way out. Don’t fight them in the air if it's too high.’’
Looking at their faces that were listening to him with intent, he thought that they understood, even though there was no confirmation coming from.
As he said, Ethan went alone to look for small groups, and not much later, he found three harpies on the ground. Just like in the folklore of the Earth, they were half women, half birds with scaly skin, claws, and wings. Their faces looked terrifying, with sharp features and a sadistic look that was promising for a bad time if he got caught. All of them were at the early tier-4, likely level 42.
He didn’t get too close and, instead, threw a small rock with his [Fabric Tear]. One of them heard the voice and turned her head. Detecting Ethan in a second, it made a screech and started to fly over with fury. The other two also noticed him and copied the first one.
Ethan escaped toward his group and slowed his speed a bit for a perfect ambush. When he was in an open area, one of them made a dive, and before it even touched him, Evelyn jumped into the air. With two [Wind Steps], she activated her buffs before hitting the harpy’s shoulder, crippling it for a short time.
He waited for the other two to enter his domain and sent two [Shadow Spikes] to their vitals. Their scales turned out quite thick as it only gave them some shallow injury. Switching to his daggers, Ethan started harassing them with stabs through [Fabric Tear], and when Paprika caught one of them with its vines, he blinked on it before stabbing its heart.
Evelyn also killed the one she had crippled, and they both went for the last one. After fighting together for a month, their coordination had become natural, even though there was still more room for progress.
With her [Berserker] skill still open, Evelyn made the creature cry at every strike while Ethan made sure the crying creature got a dagger on its vitals. Beet didn’t even get any action as the duo tore apart the beast under a minute.
‘’Death knights didn’t have any core, and neither did these birds,’’ Ethan lamented as he checked their sharp claws. ‘’Do you think the claws are worth some money?’’
‘’Hardly,’’ Evelyn replied, wiping the blood from her pole. ‘’But we gonna kill quite a bit harpy, it would be waste not to take anything.’’
They continued their plan and painted the forest red for ten hours before finding the harpy queen. She was close to a beautiful river creak with a gate next to it. The problem was that she had six more harpies nearby, and it was impossible to lure only some of them.
Ethan was standing on a treetop with Evelyn, watching the boss with a frown. ‘’What do you think? Our resources are low, but we didn’t drink any potions yet.’’
‘’Let’s drink mana and stamina potions now,’’ Evelyn decided, biting her lip. ‘’We’ll create an opportunity for each other if we need the health potion during the fight.’’
‘’Alright,’’ Ethan agreed, fetching a mana potion. ‘’Don’t get delayed with one of them. Keep changing your position, and we’ll slowly carry the fight to the area with the dense trees. There, we’ll get them one by one and fast, leaving the queen for the last.’’
‘’Aye, aye!’’ Evelyn gave a salute, excited for their most dangerous battle to fight.
Ethan approached the harpies from the west and used the same tactic to lure them to his preferred space. When he noticed that only the six of them were following, and the queen didn’t even bother, he laughed loudly. This makes things easier.
The harpies attacked when he was in the open, but he quickly blinked to escape to the area that would make it very hard for harpies to fly around. When they got close, Evelyn jumped from a tree to bash one of the harpy’s head and changed direction in the air with a [Long Jump], hitting another's' wing before going down.
Ethan saw that Paprika had managed to tie one of them to a tree. With a gleam in his eyes, he opened a [Fabric Tear], piercing its heart before switching to another dagger to drill its head, just to be sure.
The one Evelyn broke its wing fell to the ground, and a hazy purple thing appeared next to it. A few seconds later, many body parts were flying around with blood gushing everywhere. Where Ethan’s [Spadow Spikes] didn’t break the scales, Beet scythes sliced them like bread. Of course, he had to make a quick retreat, as it was a very dangerous game to keep fighting with his low stats.
Thankfully, Evelyn ended the harpy with a fast stab. The fight was chaotic but only for the harpies. The group had already gotten used to fighting against these monsters, but against this many, the injuries were unavoidable.
Ethan got a hole in his stomach when the fight was over, and Evelyn had many cuts in different places. They sat on the ground in deep breaths, still exhilarated from the adrenalin. ‘’Should we meditate or drink potions before going for the boss?’’ he asked.
‘’I think it's okay to drink the potions now. I don’t believe that one harpy could force us that much,’’ she sounded. ‘’We gonna stay in this forest afterward anyway.’’
Even though Ethan didn’t like going without any backup plans, he also didn’t think that the boss would be so powerful. He was only missing 300 health points but couldn’t wait to get this over and rest. Chugging the health potions, they walked toward the harpy queen as they didn’t even care about the open space.
They got the queen's attention when they were close enough, but it just hissed at them without moving. All the other harpies had scales, but this one had feathers, short and black feathers that were so dark it looked like it was glossing.
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‘’I’m getting a new dress,’’ Evelyn said before running with newfound enthusiasm.
Ethan followed with a smile. When the queen took a flight, he stabbed its wing, and thanks to the beast's movement, he made a long tear. This made it even easier as they both used [Long Jump] and attacked it from different sides. The queen was on the ground in no time and both Ethan and Evelyn went all out.
Even though they made a good start, the beast used a skill and started to heal itself visibly. So far, this was the first time Ethan saw a creature with a skill in the dungeon, but that didn’t make him hesitate to keep attacking with increasing lethality.
When the queen slashed its claw toward him, he made two repeated [Blink] to the back before stabbing his dagger with a [Fabric Tear]. The queen managed to evade it but couldn’t avoid the crimson pole that crushed its skull. Without wasting any time, they jumped onto the beast again and kept giving deadly strikes. The queen struggled even in that condition, and it took them a whole minute to finally kill it.
Ethan’s chest was moving rapidly while Evelyn crumpled on her ass right after. He turned to see that their companions were walking over cautiously, one immensely cute, the other evil incarnate. Looking back to the queen again, he asked, ‘’How come the others didn’t have any skills? I thought all monsters had bloodline skills. Isn’t that how they advance the tiers?’’
‘’They did,’’ Evelyn replied, rubbing her own wrist. ‘’It’s rare for them to have active skills like that. Mostly they have passive skills to boost themselves. Like many of the monsters have the skills to enhance their perception, that’s actually where the name of the Mighty Domains came from. Even when you are many miles away from a beast, you might be already inside its domain.’’
He raised an eyebrow at the scary image, ‘’But they wouldn’t hunt down low-tier creatures like us, right?’’
‘’Of course, unless we actively seek trouble or they are suddenly up for some snacks,’’ she informed with a smirk.
Ethan turned to look at the river creek, ‘’I don’t know about snacks, but I’m definitely up for some swimming,’’ he said and started running toward the water. He used a [Long Jump] at the near of it and sent all his clothes but his boxer to his ring before diving like a fish. A few seconds later, he showed up with a satisfied smile. ‘’Now, this is what I call reward!’’
Evelyn got up and came over with a smile. ‘’Oh? So you have a flesh body under that coat?’’
Ethan pretended to be offended. ‘’What? I remove it before I sleep!’’
‘’Yeah, that’s what I said. You wear it all the time except sleeping.’’
‘’These are dangerous times, okay?’’ he said, swimming with relaxed movements. ‘’I gotta be ready for murder trees or hungry giant birds. Back in the Ehrendil, I strolled the streets with nothing but pants and a t-shirt, I tell you!’’
‘’No way! I can’t imagine Mr. Voidwalker with such a mundane outfit,’’ she teased with a smile and sat near the creak.
‘’What are you doing?’’ Ethan called with urgency. ‘’Come on over, we deserved this reward. It's the personal bathhouse of the queen herself!’’
‘’I-I don’t have the proper dress,’’ she said, hesitating.
‘’Who needs a dress? What happened to the open-minded Union citizen?’’ he challenged.
‘’I said most of them. Not all of them,’’ she glared, her ears turning red. ‘’You still have extra robes, right?’’
Seeing Ethan’s nod, she gritted her teeth, ‘’This one pretty much ruined anyway,’’ she said and jumped with her clothes on.
The water was crystal clear; looking at her wet dress with holes and cuts everywhere, Ethan’s eyes lit up. That’s even worse than being naked. It’s just too sexy for my poor brain cells.
Looking at Ethan who was swimming over eagerly, Evelyn splashed water toward him with panic. ‘’Hey, hey! You better keep your distance Mr.’’
That disturbed his thought process which was searching over every water game he knew. ‘’What open-minded? False advertisement, I say,’’ he murmured, swimming around with a pout.
Bored, he checked his status and wondered why he still didn’t level up. ‘Ani, can you show me an experience bar to see how close I’m to the next level?’
Ani confirmed, and he saw that it was at %97. Even with all those speed leveling, he still didn’t get the third level of the third tier. Looking at Evelyn, who was smoothing her dress and trying to look more decent but failing miserably, ‘’Say, this tier-3 is really something. How are the people at high tiers getting their essence? Just how many creatures a tier-9 must slaughter to ascend?’’ he questioned.
‘’Hm? Well, for tiers 8 and 9, the best place is the Hell’s Pass,’’ she stated, frustrated with the dress. ‘’There are countless ifrits, wraiths, and other evil creatures living there. The Mighty Domains is also way too big and full of monsters. It’s so crowded that every year many tier-9 monsters emerge from it. Some don’t choose an anthropoid shape and keep cultivating there, some come to live with us in the Union, but even there, you don’t lack enemies and small scale wars. Then, there are places like this, pocket realms, inheritance sites, and so on.’’
Ethan listened in with a thoughtful expression and even Beet and Paprika were paying attention, though he wasn’t sure if they understood everything clearly. He supposed that they were putting some pieces together but still primarily acting on instincts.
Evelyn continued, ‘’Honestly, the lack of essence is never the problem. It’s the talent and bottlenecks that are holding people for years without advancing. Not many bother about it, though. That’s a good time to refine your skills. Even the people with top-grade talents linger at the tier-9 to hone themselves for years and ascend in their best condition.’’
‘’I guess I’m too obsessed with the progress,’’ Ethan admitted. ‘’Rushing ahead with closed eyes would be such a waste in this beautiful world, and it’s not like there is an end to it. Even after ascension, we will keep advancing. We should savor the journey more.’’
‘’I agree, but wouldn’t we be able to enjoy the world easily once we’re strong enough?’’ she asked, looking at her reflection with a sad look. ‘’Once we have everything we need and no one is able to take it from us, wouldn’t we feel safe and have ample time to savor life?’’
Ethan disagreed. This was the perspective that ruined the lives of many on Earth. They always worked hard for the next promotion, next car, next house, next relationship, and all the while, thinking that would make them finally relax and enjoy life. But it never did, and Evelyn was also telling the same lie to herself.
He also wanted to become strong, not because of the benefits it would bring but to see how much he could climb up with his own efforts. He wanted to learn what happens when one comprehends an element completely, or once one had tens of thousands of stats, what kind of feats they could do? The strongest person on Elisium was probably a nobody in a higher realm, and who was to say that the journey of cultivation would end at the higher realms? The unknown was alluring as much as exciting, and recently, he started to think that with his tries of comprehending the elements, he was only scrubbing the surface, that there were much deeper profound truths behind it.
No matter what he was thinking, Evelyn had her own issues on the topic. He only hoped that she would realize that the issues were leading her into a dead-end before it was too late and did the best he could; trying to cheer her up.
Opening a [Fabric Tear], he splashed water right into her dazed face. She got taken aback, opening her eyes and mouth widely to question, but all she got was more water. Only after she swallowed a good amount did she lift her head to see a grinning Ethan.
‘’I’m not sure. You seemed to savor quite a bit of water,’’ he pondered, holding his chin with his hand. ‘’And you don’t seem much powerful to me?’’
‘’Oh? I never showed you my [Blood Pressure] skill personally, did I?’’ she asked with an evil smirk.
‘’You didn’t?’’ he gaped in shock before his eyes shone in understanding. ‘’Oh, it must be the dress that makes my blood boil.’’
This time, Evelyn jumped over him with a crimson face and a clenched fist.
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